This 25-lesson series is hosted by Naomi and Kat. You will follow the story of Josh, a student from New Zealand who is working in Japan and living with a host family. This season is a continuation of Newbie Seasons 2 & 3 and Beginner Seasons 4 & 5. In this season you'll learn how to speak polite Japanese (keigo), use the passive tense, make requests, and more.

Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! As you walk to a New Year's Eve celebration in Japan, someone calls out to you in Japanese, "Congratulations!" You wonder why he would tell you that in Japanese-it's not like you caused the new year to come. You use kenjō-go, the most polite form of Japanese, to say "Excuse me" to the person who congratulated you, and then you proceed to quiz him about what he meant. In this lesson, you will learn about New Year's customs and greetings while reviewing humble expressions. While at home, a family and an exchange student converse using both informal and formal Japanese, respectively, and they watch a television journalist report the news using formal Japanese. You'll also learn several useful humble Japanese expressions. Visit us at JapanesePod101.com, where you will find many more fantastic Japanese lessons and learning resources! Leave us a message while you are there!

Susanne Lüthy
Konnichiwa.
Regarding してしまいます, you can use it.
However, the nuance is ‘you finished all lessons and don’t have any lessons which you should study.’
ぜんぶの レッスンを べんきょう しました just tells us the fact, ‘ you finished all lessons.’
Therefore, Natsuko sensei used that sentence.
聞きました is used for ‘listened.’
Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

夏子先生、thanks so much for your feedback, I have one question … in sentence one I intended to use … finish and shimau as learned in some lesson … could I apply in that sentence at all or would it sound strange?

1. I have just finished going through all 25 lessons.
ぜんぶのlessonをべんきょうしてしまいました。
2. Because these lessons were interesting and helpful, I will repeat them again singlemindedly.
このじゅきょうはおもしろくてゆうようでしたので、わなしはいっしんふらんもういちどうぜんぶのlessonをべんきょくりかえします。
3. Generally speaking for me this method is practical .
いっぱんてきのほうほうはわたしにやくにたつです。
4. I thought it over and decided to do so.
わたしはそのことをじゅっこうしすることにきめました。
Kind regards and thanks a lot for your feedback. Susanne Luethy

Susanne-san,
konnichiwa!
Wow, those are difficult sentences you tried. Well done!
いしんでんしん means you don’t have to actually talk, but still you understand each other.
So, I’m not sure if this was the right word…If you talked/chatted a lot, that’s not いしんでんしん

I’m just not too sure about the last sentence…
今日は ちがいます。かれは、 しょうじき に しか はなしたがらない ので、
わたし は せいしんがくしゃ に はなします。
(Today it is different. Because he doesn’t want to talk unless it’s honest, I talk to a psychiatrist ….)

Please note the conjugation すごいです and すごかったです. This is an i-adjective すごい, so
the past tense is not すごいでした.
By the way, ‘tomorrow is April 26th’ is あした は 4月26日です。

Amanda-san,
こんにちは。
Thank you for the bilingual composition! You did really well!

初詣 is read as はつもうで
Yes; if you ever come to Japan around the beginning of new year (January), please visit shrines
for 初詣
And, yes, for making that come true, you need to
やっぱり、お金を貯め始めなければいけないなあ。

Natsuko (奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

Amanda April 12th, 2014 at 1:00 am

皆さん、またおもしろいレッスン、ありがとうございました！
Hi everyone, thank you for another interesting lesson.
初詣(はつもう)という新年の行事はおもしろそうですね！
The New Year custom of Hatsumou sounds interesting.
一月の初めに日本に行ったら、是非行きたいです。
If I go to Japan at the beginning go January, I would surely want to go check it out.
まだ日本に行ったことがないですけど、japanese pod 101 聞けば聞くほど、もっと日本に行きたくなりますね。
I have not been in Japan yet, but the more I listen to japanese pod 101, the more I want to go.
やっぱり、お金を貯めるのが始まらなければいけないなあ。
As I thought, I must start saving money.

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